Conventional fiber optic cables comprise optical fibers that conduct light used to transmit voice, video, and data information. An optical ribbon includes a group of optical fibers that are coated with a ribbon common layer, which is typically referred to as a ribbon matrix material. Typically, such a ribbon matrix material is extruded about a group of individually colored optical fibers that have been arranged in a planar array, and is then irradiated with a UV light source that cures the ribbon matrix material. The cured ribbon matrix material protects the optical fibers and generally aligns the respective positions of optical fibers in the planar array. Optical fiber ribbons can be connected to multi-fiber connectors, for example, MTP connectors. MTP connectors can be used in local-area network (LAN) applications, for example, data centers and parallel optics interconnects between servers.
Conventional networking solutions, which utilize a 12-fiber MTP connector assembly for example, are often configured in a point to point system. Fiber polarity (i.e., the transmit and receive functions of a given fiber) is addressed by flipping fibers in one end of the assembly just before entering the MTP connector in an epoxy plug, or by providing “A” and “B” type break-out modules where the fiber is flipped in the “B” module and straight in the “A” module. Optical polarity modules that provide fiber optic interconnection solutions for MTP connectors in a network environment are discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,758,600 and 6,869,227, which patents are assigned to the present Assignee and which patents are incorporated by reference herein.
In a traditional network environment that includes a data center, floor space (e.g. the 24″×24″ raised floor tile within a data center) comes at a very expensive premium. Further, the vertical space (identified as a 1.75″ rack space) within the floor space also comes at a premium. Therefore, each time passive and active fiber-optic equipment completely fills this space, new space is required for the system to grow. In addition, the space being used is already stuffed with a high-density of components.
Consequently, it is difficult to effectively manage the cabling in data centers for such networks. This is particularly true for Storage Area Networks (SANs) that utilize SAN directors having high-density input/output (“I/O”) interfaces called “line cards.” Line cards hold multiple optical transceivers that convert optical signals to electrical signals and vice versa. The line cards have connector ports into which network cabling is plugged. The number of ports per line card can vary, e.g., 16, 32 and 48 port line cards are available. Complicating matters is the use of line cards with non-matching port counts (e.g., port counts not having even increments of 12-fibers) so that some fibers in the ribbon cable assembly end up not connected to a connector port. For example, it is sometimes desirable to use line cards with 16 and 32 port counts, but these are not directly suitable for use with 12-fiber-based cabling systems. What is needed is a universal conversion module that efficiently converts one 24-fiber connector configuration (or multiples thereof) to three 8-fiber connector configurations (or multiples thereof), in a manner that takes into account the polarity of the fibers.